Texture Fading for Smooth Level of Detail Transitions in a Graphics Application

1. A computer-based system comprising one or more computing devices having processing circuitry configured to: display a representation of a geographic area having geometric objects defining surfaces in the geographic area and texture rendered on the surfaces defined by the geometric objects, the texture being rendered at a first level of detail; transition to a display of a representation of at least a portion of the geographic area having texture rendered at a second level of detail using a temporal level of detail fade for the texture; wherein the temporal level of detail fade is implemented by adjusting an interpolant value over time based on a fade rate for the temporal level of detail fade, the interpolant value specifying a blend ratio for a blended texture, the fade rate being variable based on the difference between the first level of detail and the second level of detail; wherein the interpolant value is adjusted over time as a function of a difference between a calculated level of detail and the first level of detail and a difference between the second level of detail and the first level of detail, the calculated level of detail being determined as a function of a calculated level of detail for a previous frame, the fade rate, and a difference between a target level of detail for a view associated with the second frame and the first level of detail.

2. The computer-based system of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to implement the level of detail fade by performing operations, the operations comprising: generating the blended texture comprising attributes of the texture at the first level of detail and the texture the second level of detail; and adjusting the blended texture over time to provide the transition between the first level of detail and the second level of detail.

3. The computer-based system of claim 1 , wherein the interpolant value is determined based at least in part on the difference between the first level of detail and the second level of detail and the fade rate for the temporal level of detail fade.

4. The computer-based system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to receive the texture for the representation of the geographic area from one or more remote computing devices over a network.

5. A computer-implemented method for rendering texture in a graphics application, comprising: identifying, by one or more computing devices, a first level of detail for texture rendered in a first frame of a graphics application presenting a representation of a geographic area; identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a second level of detail for texture to be rendered in a second frame of the graphics application; and initiating, the one or more computing devices, a temporal level of detail fade for portions of the representation where a difference between the second level of detail and the first level of detail is determined to exceed a threshold value; wherein the temporal level of detail fade comprises generating, by the one or more computing devices, a blended texture from the texture at the first level of detail and the texture the second level of detail; and adjusting, by the one or more computing devices, the blended texture over time by adjusting an interpolant value specifying a blend ratio for the blended texture over time pursuant to a fade rate to provide a transition between the first level of detail and the second level of detail; wherein the interpolant value is adjusted over time as a function of a difference between a calculated level of detail and the first level of detail and a difference between the second level of detail and the first level of detail, the calculated level of detail being determined as a function of a calculated level of detail for a previous frame, the fade rate, and a difference between a target level of detail for a view associated with the second frame and the first level of detail.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein the method comprises: identifying, by the one or more computing devices, areas of the representation where a level of detail fade has been previously initiated; adjusting, by the one or more computing devices, the interpolant value associated with the identified area; and adjusting, by the one or more computing devices, a blended texture for the identified areas based on the adjusted interpolant value.